Mike Lee Asks Trump DoI Nom About Improving Speed Of NEPA Permitting And Environmental Impact Review

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During a Senate Energy Committee hearing last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) spoke about the speed of NEPA's environmental impact reviews.

Transcript

00:00We're going to proceed now to five-minute rounds of questions. Each senator on the

00:04committee here will have a turn. We'll go between Republicans and Democrats

00:09alternating in order of committee seniority as modified by the early bird

00:15rule and I'll begin that now. Mr. Delfemeyer, why don't we start with you? As a

00:22lawyer you're aware the fact that NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act,

00:27is a procedural statute. It doesn't require a specific foreordained or

00:34substantive outcome. It rather requires that agencies take a hard look at

00:40environmental impacts. Recognizing that and given the urgency that we face and the

00:47energy space, the Department of Interior recently invoked some procedures to speed

00:52up the process. There are a lot of countries that have emulated our NEPA law

00:57and it's worked well for them. A lot of them have been very good at this point in

01:01making sure that the process doesn't take longer than necessary. And so the plan,

01:06as I understand it, at the Department of Interior would be to complete

01:11environmental assessments within 14 days and environmental impact statements

01:15within 28 days for energy projects. Now do you believe these expedited timelines

01:21are consistent with NEPA's requirements and how do you plan to help the

01:25Department meet those goals? Thank you Chairman Lee. As we discussed in your

01:31office and I very much enjoyed my time with you and your staff, I very much agree

01:36with President Trump that our country does face an energy crisis. With generative

01:42AI and data centers and advanced manufacturing, our demand curve is going up

01:48exponentially and meanwhile we have a permitting system that takes far too long

01:52to actually meet the increase in demand that we're facing. When President Trump

01:59first took office on his first day, he signed a number of executive orders relating

02:02to energy and the unleashing American energy executive order instructs all the

02:08agencies to exercise all legal authorities they have to expedite this

02:12permitting process. I'm not at the Department of Interior and I've not been

02:16involved with devising the emergency procedures but as you said I am

02:20familiar with NEPA and it is a procedural statute and it does require a hard

02:24look and I'm looking forward to working with the Department of Interior to make

02:29sure that we satisfy all the legal requirements during the time period

02:33allotted in order to get energy projects moving and not you know stuck in

02:37endless litigation. Thank you. Mr. House, if I go to you next. The U.S.

02:44Trade Representative recently released a notice of potential action in response to

02:49an investigation about Chinese maritime shipping dominance. The action laid out

02:56in the fourth annex to that document is likely, if implemented, to have a

03:01detrimental effect on LNG exports. The action would require, as I understand it,

03:091% of LNG export vessels to be U.S. flagged and U.S. built by 2029 and then that

03:20percentage shifts up gradually over time until it gets to 15% by 2047. But the

03:29action would also allow USTR to suspend LNG export licenses until the terms of the

03:37action are met. Now this is, in my mind, raises considerable concerns and bears a

03:43striking, stunning resemblance to the so-called Jones Act. Now the Jones Act of

03:48course applies with regard to shipments between U.S. ports. One U.S. port to

03:53another without an intervening stop in another country requires them to be U.S.

03:59built, crude, flagged, and so forth. In your opinion, does USTR have the authority

04:08in the jurisdiction to suspend Department of Energy LNG export licenses through a

04:12rulemaking procedure? Senator, thank you for the question. This is not an area of

04:17expertise, but I can say that LNG has been a force of good for the world. It's been a

04:22boon for the U.S. economy. It's delivered affordable, reliable energy to our allies

04:27across the globe. So any type of rulemaking that restricts our ability to

04:31deliver that incredible fuel to our friends and allies across the globe is a

04:35negative for America, a negative for our allies, and we need to do everything we

04:39can to avoid putting further restrictions on LNG exports. Thank you. I

04:44appreciate that. And if you're confirmed, will you agree to work with me and my

04:50staff to clarify, figure out this jurisdictional ambiguity between whenever

04:57you're confirmed and, you know, prior to finalization of this proposed possible

05:04rulemaking? Absolutely, Senator. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, my time is up.

05:12We're gonna turn next to Senator Heinrich, who will be asking questions. I have got to

05:17run to the Foreign Relations Committee for a moment to cast a few votes. Senator

05:22Hoven has graciously agreed to take the gavel while I'm out and I'll be back in a

05:27few minutes. Senator Heinrich.

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